Classes did not start until the sun was in
the sky.
I picked the straightest line through the trees as I could, and started off, my
boots slapping muddy puddles riddling the way. In the early morning the forest was
empty of human presence apart from its familiar visitor in me, but it was creepy now,
like someone was watching.
A short while later it was clear I'd done something wrong. The trees were
getting denser, and more closely packed together, like I was going further into the
forest. I stopped and spun around. My first instinct was to go back. I was walking in a
straight line, and I could go back to the slope base and start again. I had been walking
in a straight line, hadn't I? Those nasty curls of fear tickled my insides again. I started
to walk back, but stopped after less than half a mile. I scanned the ground. Horrified
at what I did not see, I knelt down to get a better look. To my dismay I could not see
any footprints or other evidence I had passed this way. All Clerics were master
trackers, bested only by shifters who changed into predators like big cats. As a
Disciple I had been trained in the basics of tracking, of course, and at that moment I
felt the bitter sting of failure. What I should have done the moment I felt lost is
literally retraced my steps and started again. But I hadn't done that. I'd let the fear get
one up on me, and plunged into the forest without thinking. I needed to calm down
and focus. I figured if I went high, I could see further around me.
I strode back a pace, and took a running jump at a broad oak trunk. I reached the
lowest branch starting five feet or so above my head, and dug my fingertips into the
bark. Tree climbing was easy, and in no time I hauled my body over the highest
bough that would hold my weight. I balanced on my toes, hands to knees. Exhaling
my breath was visible plumes of wispy vapor, and for a few seconds I chugged
circular globules to amuse myself.
It was cold, it being the end of autumn, but the cooler days didn't bother me. It
was a welcome change since my body had always run hot.
The clouds on the horizon were dark with rain, darker than the sky now. They rolled
low and blocked out the coming light. There was a thick hum in the air, a sure sign a
storm was blowing in. My heart did a jig in my chest, and my mood picked up, for I
simply loved a good storm. The clean scent of crushed needle leaf on the breeze was refreshing, and a nice change to the ashy smell that saturated everything at the
Temple.
Getting back on track, I looked around in a wide circle. I bit my lip and looked the
circle again, slower this time. I was in trouble. I couldn't see the Wall or the end of
the forest. I must have run much further than I usually did before I'd fallen. Then I'd
walked even further in the wrong direction.
I stood, clasped the branch overhead and skipped to the edge of my perch.
Loosening my hold above, I pushed back with my foot and both my arms stretched
back. I arced into a crescent and was momentarily suspended in the air. The crown of
my head raced to catch my arms as my legs coiled and flew overhead. The world was
crazy for a second; up was down, down was up. Pointed feet followed my legs around
and then I was falling. Feet a foot apart, my knees bent to absorb impact as I landed,
arms extended either side of me for balance.
That bit of fun helped chase away some of my distress. I was good at
identifying my emotions and could control them with distractions if I caught them
early enough. There were several notable times I'd allowed myself to fall into foul
rages, where I'd thrown things about and punched walls, laughing as I did so. The
most frequent were bouts of manic happiness where everything was funny. The worst
and hardest to control were the dark humors. Sometimes the twisted things my
imagination threw at me were only scary, and off-colour to think about once I'd
snapped out of it. I'd always been odd, different to the girls around me, and those
times where I'd lost control made some people suspicious and afraid of me.
Oh yes, I'd become good at controlling myself.
Back down below the forest canopy it was dark. The sunrays had not broken
through the leaves, and the understory had a monochromatic look. Silver bark, grey
leaves and black spaces between. I pushed some hair out of my eyes that had gotten
loose from my makeshift bun, and breathed in. Smells of the forest, nutty sycamore
maples and sweet night flowers releasing the last of their fragrance, were strangely
comforting. I was deep into wild and civilization was far behind, but I knew
panicking would only make things worse.
A faint rustle ahead made me pause and swiftly reconsider panicking. Another,
louder rustle made me tense. A tingle of fear ran down the back of my legs. The forest
was full of animals of course, deer, badgers and more birds than I could name, though
the most popular was the raven.
The thought I'd been consciously avoiding until now, making me want to lie
where I was then die quietly and run shrieking in the opposite direction, was that I
was in demon territory.
A flicker of light illuminated the leaf edges in the darkness. I heard a low
murmur of sound, hushed and urgent. Instinctively crouching down, I crawled
forward and was scared. Voices. Demons spoke, of course. They were bloodthirsty
and evil, but intelligent too. Like a rational individual, I could have gone the other
way, but then I would not know what kind of demon was close by. If they were
shifters with tracking skills, I was no better than a dead body anyway. Soon, I saw the
pale glare of artificial light and inched closer, keeping myself low to the floor. My
knees scrapped sharp twigs, hard stones. The prickly leaves of low grown shrubs
stroked my cheeks, and forehead, as I pushed forward. My breathing sounded too
loud in my ears, and I tried to breathe shallow. I kept my moves small and stealthy,
like I was taught in Subterfuge when learning how to track demons for the element of
surprise.
Ahead of me, there was a small clearing and three bodies in it.
Two were human, Clerics, identified by the peculiar hooded crimson blazers
they wore with black tails that flowed to their knees. The wide, pointed hood could
cover your face to the nose, and the well-known white-eye sigil stitched on their
breast pockets, commanded fear from demons and submission from Disciples. The
one facing me was female with her hood down. She was skeletal with mud colored
hair and pinched lips, but would be attractive if you like women with up-tilted eyes
and a mean-looking disposition. The other had his back to me and was a well-built
male. Small but compact with big arms and calves.
To my horror the feeling that surged through me was not relief. These Clerics
would take me back to the compound, and I would get into heaps of trouble having to
somehow explain the hole in the Wall. But that versus being caught by a demon and
killed was preferable, right? No. I sat in my hiding place and quaked in my boots. My
stomach twisted into a double knot and my teeth chattered, because something bad
was happening.
The third body in the clearing was a demon. A kind I had never seen before in
my life, meaning she could only be one thing. Green skin damp and scarlet hair wild,
the fairy was sprawled across the forest floor in a tangle of her own gawky limbs. It
was clear to me she was terrified. Her vibrant skin looked sallow and her eyes blood shot. A tazer probe buzzed in her shoulder blade, another on her upper thigh. She was
crying, a pitiful high keen that was so frail I could barely hear it.
The Lady Cleric twisted the probe deeper into the fairy's leg. "Why do you spy
on the Academy?" she asked with chilling calm.
The fairy-girl cringed back. "I mean you no harm."
"And here I thought a fairy could tell no lie."
"I can't." The high chime of her voice shook on each word. "I speak the truth.
Let me go, you don't understand what will happen. My brothers–"
The Lord Cleric punched her. Her head flew back and a spray of blood wet the
dry mud and spattered over the leaves concealing me. Face wet with tears and
whimpering, she tried to crawl toward the trees and dragged up clumps of earth with
her fingernails.
"You must let me go." The words sounded muffled, like she had a mouthful of
something foul.